Lewis Hamilton Triumphs in Texas

After his last win in Japan, which put him 59 points ahead of a non scoring Vettel, who had a spark plug problem with his car, which forced him into retirement, Lewis Hamilton headed to Texas for the American Grand Prix, stating quite simply that he wanted to win this race.

He dominated all the practice sessions, and at that time it did not appear as if Ferrari had the pace to stay with him. As qualifying proceeded, it was the same , but in Q3, Vettel put in a very fast lap to split Lewis and Bottas, which was just 2 tenths behind Lewis. But the pole position belonged to Lewis, it was his 72nd pole, more than any other driver has ever achieved.

Whilst discussing pace after the race, the pundits revealed that in long runs, the Ferrari was faster than Mercedes, which meant Lewis had work to do to stay ahead. His determination was clear for all to see, whilst Vettel was reminding everyone they had a fast car, and would be fast in the race.

Raceday

On Race day, as is their custom, the American cheer leaders were out in force, and there was even a different theme of heralding the drivers and their achievements, as they emerged onto the race track. It was received with good humour by the drivers, and there was plenty of support from the excited crowd waiting.

Lewis had invited Usain Bolt as his special guest, and before the race he had taken him for a turbulent ride in a formula one car , demonstrating how to do donuts, and Usain had not yet got over the shock. The whole weekend had been spectacular, as well as the racing, on Saturday there had been a Justin Timberlake concert, and after the race, Stevie Wonder was also going to perform.

The weather had been wet overnight, but for the race the sun was shining, and the track had dried out. Lewis had declared his impatience to get in the car and get on with it, he clearly was looking forward to acquitting himself well in front of our American cousins.

Race time

The start was not the best one for Lewis, who was overtaken by Vettel, but he kept his cool, and by lap 6 had retaken the lead. As he stretched his lead out to over 4 seconds, it was clear his car had good pace. Vettel struggled , and for the best part of the race, he was languishing down in 4th place.

After his pit stop, Lewis had expected to be well ahead, but Vettel attempted to jump him, although Lewis responded and was having none of it. He built up his lead again, and as was inevitable, once Vettel managed to pass Bottas, whose tyres were old and worn, Raikennon then gave up 2nd position to him.

Ricciardo had to retire with an engine failure, but not before we saw Bottas valiantly defending , and not allowing him to overtake. Verstappen started from 15th position, and drove a blinding race, by gradually working his way up the track, in his very fast Red Bull. His late move on Raikennon, to claim the 3rd podium spot was spectacular, but in a bizarre after race decision from the stewards, he was given a 5 second penalty, and points on his licence for leaving the track. This left many fans frustrated and angry, and tarnished what had been a great move.

The end result was that Lewis won, taking his 9th win of the season, Vettel was 2nd, and Raikennon was awarded 3rd place. Usain Bolt did the podium interview, and ex president Bill Clinton was also up there to add his congratulations.

This result takes Lewis 66 points ahead of Vettel, and with the next race in Mexico coming up this weekend, if he can get 5th place or higher, Lewis will have won the tit driverstitle . If this happens, I and many of his fans will be able to watch the last 2 races in Brazil and Abu Dhabi in confidence, knowing our British champion has his fourth championship safe and secure.GO LEWIS, OUR BRITISH HERO!My thanks to Wikipedia for the images, and Youtube for the video